Biotech growth needs support

Centres for excellence and a pan-European stock market need to
be created to support the growth of biotech, European
associations argue.

Centres for excellence and a pan-European stock market need
to be created to support the growth of biotech, European
industry associations have argued.

Speaking at the launch of BioImpact - the first scientific
study to assess the impact of biotechnology-derived medicines
on the quality of life and life expectancy of patients - France
Biotech and EuropaBio called for the development of real and
effective biotechnology industrial policies to integrate
research, development and biomanufacturing.

Creating centres for excellence in biotech research would
bring together academic, clinical and private research, the
associations said: “Only centres with a critical mass and
an international visibility will be able to attract industrial
research, biomanufacturing units or young talented researchers
from India or China for example.”

They also argued that a pan-European stock market was
“indispensable” for the growth of biotech companies
that need “several hundred million euros in
capital” to become profitable.

“It would be a pity to see our best SMEs bought out by
overseas companies or settle abroad due to a lack of a stock
market where they could raise enough money to finance their
development,” the associations continued.

The BioImpact study found that the socio-economic impact of
biotechnology is “highly significant” with 190
medicines and vaccines already available and more than 400
therapeutic products under development in 2004.

Further data revealed that the biotech industry is also able
to offer new and more efficient therapeutic weapons for niche
products and diseases and enables large-scale production
techniques for better medical coverage.

Meanwhile, the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has welcomed
the findings of a report on pre-emption. The report, by Paul
Myners, reviewed the ability of certain public companies,
including bioscience companies, to raise finance from the
capital markets and concluded that the current blanket approach
was not working as intended.

Aisling Burnand, chief executive of the BIA said: “It
is extremely positive that this important report has confirmed
that there is an issue with the current pre-emption guidelines
for UK bioscience companies. It affects their ability to raise
finance from the capital markets and thus their ability to
progress the development of their businesses.”